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Ooohh, Now this I may not be able to say no to…
Might have to sit in the Dead arm for 20 years but hey ho… 
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Interesting, I was wondering which wines would be included in this. A shame there isn’t a mixed case. I don’t need (and my bank balance can’t allow me to even consider) 6 of each.
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That’s the thought that struck me when the offer came in. A case of 3 of each would be great.
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Somebody on here may want to split …
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I’m getting more and more concerned that this mechanism is effectively a way of discriminating against those that don’t want and/or can’t afford to buy by the case. Yes we can try and find someone to split with but, honestly, we shouldn’t have to.
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Zero reason whatsoever for these wines to be “First Release”. Solid if unspectacular. Widely available. Made in large quantities.
Why not just put them on the List and sell them when they’re here like normal? Or are we witnessing the beginning of the end of single bottle purchases?
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The comparison between this and something like the recent Vergelegen campaign is pretty stark. If we’re sticking to a ‘6 bottles or bust’ approach then given the massive range of wines that d’Arenberg produce it’s a shame that something along the lines of the Vergelegen mixed case (6 bottles made up of 2 x 2 premium wines and 2 from one of the more midrange offerings to help bring the case price down and make it a bit more accessible/affordable) couldn’t be pulled together.
We’re fairly accustomed to this sort of offer from a lot of the E.P campaigns so it’s a bit odd that so far first release hasn’t followed a similar model.
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Oof… strong words, but appreciate and respect your opinion. I too would like to see them offered in 3 bottle cases or a mixed case, the problem I see for a mixed case is that the Coppermine is open for business sooner than the Dead arm and yes they both have long drinking windows, but tbh I wouldn’t personally pop the dead arm until it’s 10 years old at the earliest.
So could therefore pose a problem for withdrawing the wines as a whole “mixed” case.
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Yeah, I’m not normally a TWS basher but this way of buying simply doesn’t work for me at all, so I’ll be quite unhappy if it becomes a steadily bigger thing. 3’s might work better but, frankly, most of the time I’m buying in 1s and 2s; I want the variety! So I do feel kind of excluded. I accept it for EP but this, I’m not so sure.
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I am broadly in agreement with @willrcwyatt and @MikeFranklin. I just don’t see the need, or any good justification for this. I’m struggling to find the motivation from the TWS for introducing and expanding this method of selling. Don’t like it at all.
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One of the USPs for the Society is the “by the bottle” listings, even for super premium wines. I don’t want to see them move towards a by-the-case-only model.
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I wonder if any research was carried out among members to ascertain the demand for this new kind of offer. Perhaps this phase is the research?
In bond wines are presumably more attractive to those who might want to sell on in the future, as are unmixed cases, so TWS are making life easier for flippers. Otherwise the only attraction for the buyer is a modest saving in the initial outlay. Or am I missing something?
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Having recently opened a 2012 Dead Arm I think your 10 year guide is about right. It was drinking well but still with a long road ahead. I’m glad I bought 12 bottles so I can track through a very long lifecycle.
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None of these releases have been “investment grade” wines or in-demand on the secondary market, so I struggle to believe that this is an anti-flipper tactic, presumably more about the Society’s cash management.
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Exactly.
I’d take the 6 bottle case option if there were a notable discount. As it is, you can get individual bottles of the Dead Arm 2017 from at least one place for under £30 duty paid. This offer works out at £32.27 per bottle at current tax rates.
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Not convinced I’m afraid, d’Arenberg wines are frequently “on offer” many years post-release later, for example with Wine Direct. Is there really a demand vs supply mismatch ?
The only upside I can see for members is delaying the duty and tax element. None of the offers so far have struck me as offering any other advantage. The last Dead Arm I bought was £26 a bottle duty paid…. It is regularly, and heavily, discounted elsewhere if you look hard enough. Eg Costco often have at a very attractive price.
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I share some of the similar concerns of folk on here. Even the Alheit offer, where the cases are in 3’s and prices are favourable compared to the already better than market prices you tend to get for these wines on TWS, doesn’t especially tempt me. The wines tend to come on the list annually and don’t exactly shoot out of the window. We engage in EP because it is vineyard and market driven, but I don’t quite see the cooperative logic in selling cases of 3s/6s (even at a marginally better price) to a small portion of the membership in this manner - and this is coming from someone just starting to build a cellar by buying in 6’s. (By the by, beyond cash flow, are these offers even any good for the vineyards we’ve worked so long with?)
However, one thing did occur to me, in fairness to our buyers (who are doubtless buyers of some themselves!), is that TWS may be getting a bigger allocation of a particular wine as a result. An explanation similar to that provided by Sarah on the Graticciaia thread… https://community.thewinesociety.com/t/graticciaia-2016/10918/32?u=alexander-c0855 One thing I still don’t quite understand with this explanation is that, even if this were the case, why the whole allocation needs to be offered in this way? Presumably TWS buys in excess en primeur in many good vintages, so why not for a particular wine which is - by the looks of the basic idea of this - bound to sell out? For the aficionados of a particular wine they’ll have a chance to buy a case, for those that want to buy just a bottle or two once a year they’ll be happy too. Strikes me that the TWS membership is very good at drinking wine, so there’s little risk in this. That is, if we have to do this at all.
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